Parking assist apparatus and parking assist method

• US 10,189,501 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2016
• Issued: 01/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Suda, Ryohei, Munakata, Kosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Elahi, Shan E
• Application Number:
  US15/381,350
• Publication Number:
  US 20170203789A1
• Time in Patent Office: 774 Days
• Field of Search: 348118
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/002 specially adapted for covering the peripheral part of the vehicle, e.g. for viewing tyres, bumpers or the like integrated in the windows B60R1/001; combined with rear-view mirrors B60R1/08
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/304 using merged images, e.g. merging camera image with stored images
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/305 merging camera image with lines or icons
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/607 from a bird's eye viewpoint
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/806 for aiding parking
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0275 by overlaying a vehicle path based on present steering angle over an image without processing that image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/00 Geometric image transformations in the plane of the image
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/588 Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/168 Driving aids for parking, e.g. acoustic or visual feedback on parking space
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/44504 Circuit details of the additional information generator, e.g. details of the character or graphics signal generator, overlay mixing circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A parking assist apparatus includes a parking range identification unit that identifies a current parking range using vehicle speed information and steering angle information acquired from a vehicle along with movement of the vehicle, a display control unit that causes an image indicating the identified current parking range to be displayed in such a manner as to be superimposed on a vehicle-surroundings image, an estimated movement range calculation unit that, when no vehicle speed information can be acquired in a process of a gradual reduction in vehicle speed, calculates an estimated movement range of the vehicle using deceleration of the vehicle based on vehicle speed information acquired before a time when no vehicle speed information can be acquired, and the steering angle information, and an estimated movement range display unit that displays, around the image indicating the current parking range, an image indicating the calculated estimated movement range.

Claims

1. A parking assist apparatus that assists parking of a vehicle, the parking assist apparatus comprising:

an image acquisition unit configured to acquire a vehicle capture image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle;

a viewpoint-converted image generation unit configured to generate a viewpoint-converted image, as viewed from a virtual viewpoint above the vehicle, by subjecting the vehicle capture image acquired by the image acquisition unit to viewpoint conversion;

a vehicle-surroundings image generation unit configured to generate a vehicle-surroundings image of surroundings of the vehicle, as viewed from an upper virtual viewpoint, from the viewpoint-converted image generated by the viewpoint-converted image generation unit, and an image of the vehicle stored in a storage unit in advance;

a parking range identification unit configured to identify a current parking range by using a parking frame detected from a past vehicle capture image or a past viewpoint-converted image, and vehicle speed information and steering angle information acquired from a sensor on the vehicle during movement of the vehicle;

a display control unit configured to cause an image indicating the current parking range identified by the parking range identification unit to be displayed in such a manner as to be superimposed on the vehicle-surroundings image;

an estimated movement range calculation unit configured to calculate, when no vehicle speed information can be acquired in a process of a gradual reduction in speed of the vehicle, an estimated movement range of the vehicle after a time when no vehicle speed information can be acquired, by using deceleration of the vehicle based on vehicle speed information acquired before the time when no vehicle speed information can be acquired, and the steering angle information; and

an estimated movement range display unit configured to display, around the image indicating the current parking range, an image indicating the estimated movement range calculated by the estimated movement range calculation unit.

2. The parking assist apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the estimated movement range display unit displays, around the image indicating the current parking range, the image indicating the estimated movement range in gradations of color in such a manner that color gradually fades with increasing distance from the image indicating the current parking range.

3. A parking assist method performed by a parking assist apparatus that assists parking of a vehicle, the parking assist method comprising:

an image acquisition step of acquiring, with an image acquisition unit of the parking assist apparatus, a vehicle capture image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle;

a viewpoint-converted image generation step of generating, with a viewpoint-converted image generation unit of the parking assist apparatus, a viewpoint-converted image, as viewed from a virtual viewpoint above the vehicle, by subjecting the vehicle capture image acquired by the image acquisition unit to viewpoint conversion;

a vehicle-surroundings image generation step of generating, with a vehicle-surroundings image generation unit of the parking assist apparatus, a vehicle-surroundings image of surroundings of the vehicle, as viewed from an upper virtual viewpoint, from the viewpoint-converted image generated by the viewpoint-converted image generation unit and an image of the vehicle stored in a storage unit in advance;

a parking range identification step of identifying, with a parking range identification unit of the parking assist apparatus, a current parking range by using a parking frame detected from a past vehicle capture image or a past viewpoint-converted image, and vehicle speed information and steering angle information acquired from a sensor on the vehicle during movement of the vehicle;

a display control step of causing, with a display control unit of the parking assist apparatus, an image indicating the current parking range identified by the parking range identification unit to be displayed in such a manner as to be superimposed on the vehicle-surroundings image;

an estimated movement range calculation step of calculating, with an estimated movement range calculation unit of the parking assist apparatus, when no vehicle speed information can be acquired in a process of a gradual reduction in speed of the vehicle, an estimated movement range of the vehicle after a time when no vehicle speed information can be acquired, by using deceleration of the vehicle based on vehicle speed information acquired before the time when no vehicle speed information can be acquired, and the steering angle information; and

an estimated movement range display step of displaying, with an estimated movement range display unit of the parking assist apparatus, around the image indicating the current parking range, an image indicating the estimated movement range calculated by the estimated movement range calculation unit.